European companies may forbid staff from wearing Islamic headscarves and other visible religious symbols under certain conditions, the European Union's top court has ruled, setting off a storm of complaints from rights groups and religious leaders.

Such a ban does not constitute what Europe's high court calls "direct discrimination".

The ruling made by the European Court of Justice, the highest court in the 28-nation EU, was in response to two cases brought by a Belgian and a French woman, both fired for refusing to remove their headscarves.

It clarified a long-standing question about whether partial bans by some countries on religious symbols could include the workplace.

The ruling came on the eve of a Dutch election in which Muslim immigration is a key issue.

The court's response also fed right into the French presidential campaign, bolstering the platforms of far-right leader Marine Le Pen, a leading contender in the spring election who wants to do away with all "ostentatious" religious symbols in the name of secularism, and conservative Francois Fillon, who hailed the court's decisions.

Islamic clothing has also prompted similar debate within Australia, with One Nation's Pauline Hanson openly opposing the burka on multiple occasions.

"At a time when identity and appearance has become a political battleground, people need more protection against prejudice, not less."

The Open Society Justice Initiative, which submitted a brief supporting the women, expressed disappointment.

The group's policy officer, Maryam Hmadoum, contended that the decision "weakens the guarantee of equality that is at the heart of the EU's antidiscrimination directive," which the Court of Justice cited in weighing the cases.

The European Court of Justice made separate decisions on the cases, but linked them.

In the Belgian case, Samira Achbita, a receptionist at a security firm, was fired in June 2006 for wearing an Islamic headscarf, banned in a new set of internal rules by her company that prohibited visible signs of their political, religious or philosophical beliefs.

Belgium's Court of Cassation sought guidance from the Luxembourg-based European court which rules on cases involving EU law, which applies to all EU members.

While the cases were linked by the European court, the French case differs and offers Asma Bougnaoui a reason for optimism because the reasons for her dismissal as a design engineer were based, not on internal rules, but on the complaint of a customer unhappy with her Islamic headscarf.

The court said that an employer's readiness to take into account the wishes of a customer, not internal policy, don't qualify for the measure set out by the European Union: a "genuine and determining occupational requirement".

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